Israeli Fire Kills Four People in Gaza, Medics Say

Israeli strikes and gunfire killed at least four people in the Gaza Strip in separate incidents on Thursday, health officials in the enclave said.

In Gaza City, a strike on a car killed at least one person, medics said. They had earlier said two people died in that strike. A crowd gathered around the burning wreckage while emergency crews in orange vests sprayed it with water, photos from the scene showed.

Other strikes killed a Palestinian man riding a bike in the southern city of Khan Younis and a man near the Nuseirat refugee camp in central Gaza, the medics said. Gunfire killed a woman near the Jabalia refugee camp in the north.

The Israeli military said it had struck Hamas militants in Khan Younis, Nuseirat and Gaza City. It said it was not aware of the reported incident in Jabalia.

Israel says the Hamas militant group has been rearming and launching attacks in violation of a year-old ceasefire, and it has stepped up strikes on the group in recent weeks. Hamas has denied trying to carry out attacks or rebuild its arsenal. It accuses Israel of undermining the Gaza peace deal.

A ceasefire that has not stopped the killing

Last year's United States brokered ceasefire calls for the eventual reconstruction of the territory. Little progress has been made. Negotiators have failed to agree on terms for Hamas to disarm and for Israel to withdraw its troops, the two steps the deal depends on.

Airstrikes have continued through the ceasefire. At least 1,500 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza since the ceasefire took hold, according to the territory's health officials. Israel says four of its soldiers have been killed in the same period.

Palestinian authorities say more than 74,000 people have been killed in Israel's assault on Gaza. The assault began after Hamas-led fighters killed about 1,200 people in southern Israel on October 7, 2023.

Why it matters

Thursday's deaths were spread across the length of the strip, in the north, the centre and the south, and each side gave a different account of what happened. That pattern has become routine. A strike is reported by medics in Gaza, the Israeli military says it hit militants or says it has no record of the incident, and no independent check follows. For families in Gaza, the practical result is the same. Movement, work and daily errands still carry the risk of a strike, a year after a ceasefire that was meant to end the war.

The stalled talks add to that risk. Without an agreement on disarmament and withdrawal, the ceasefire has no next stage to move to. Reconstruction, which the deal promises, has not started in any serious way.

What happens next

Mediators have not announced a new round of talks with a date attached. Israel has said its strikes will continue while it judges that Hamas is rebuilding. Hamas has said it will not disarm under the terms on offer. Until one of those positions moves, incidents like Thursday's are likely to keep being reported from Gaza City, Khan Younis, Nuseirat and Jabalia, and the death count since the ceasefire is likely to keep rising.